Hello, everyone! Yes, I know I still haven’t posted my favourite songs of 2022, but I’m making progress on it, and I feel like I might be able to get it posted by the end of August. We’ll see, though.

Anyway, for now, I’ve got six mini reviews with quite a wide range of genres here. As always, this is all just based on how I personally feel. Feel free to disagree with me on these albums. Also, as always, none of this is an attempt to be mean, even if I give an album a negative review. And speaking of negative reviews … well, this post isn’t very negative at all … there are some really good albums here!

But first, let’s start with an album I’m not as big a fan of …

A Feast On Sorrow by URNE:

This metal band, URNE, released this album a couple weeks ago, and while I still haven’t listened to their first album, I was curious to hear this one …

And I can’t say it’s really my thing. Maybe part of it is the length—while this isn’t super long, it is over fifty minutes, and I’m often not the biggest fan of long albums—but also, when it comes to the songs themselves, a lot of them just don’t feel all that interesting to me.

It’s worth noting that I couldn’t find the lyrics when I looked them up, and a lot of them I couldn’t really hear, so that isn’t really much of a factor here for me. But musically, I feel like I’ve heard a lot of similar albums that I like a lot more, and the production/mixing can feel awkward at points, with some parts of the album having a bit of a messy sound, like with the awkwardly produced snare in the start of the title track … although there are some moments where I really like the production, like throughout most of “To Die Twice”.

There aren’t that many melodies that really click for me, and while a decent amount of the album is enjoyable while it’s on, I just personally find it underwhelming. I’m going to give this a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “To Die Twice”, “A Stumble of Words”, “Peace”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Long Goodbye/Where Do the Memories Go?”

Chthonic by Lawrence English & Lea Bertucci:

So, this is another one of those mellow, instrumental ambient albums that I would maybe even describe as a sound collage … and compared to a lot of those that I’ve reviewed this year, something about this one pulls me into its world more, and I’m not entirely sure why.

This is my first time listening to either of these artists as far as I can remember, and it makes me curious to hear more.

It’s not an album that gives me a ton to say, but I love the eerie mood of it, and there’s a lot of great atmosphere.

At under forty minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome—although I’m curious what the album would have been like if it was longer—and overall, I highly recommend this!

So, for me, it’s an 8.5/10! And in a year full of disappointing/underwhelming albums, in which not as many albums have really clicked for me as I expected, this was a really welcome surprise!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Amorphic Foothills”, “Dust Storm”, “Geology of Fire”, “Strata”
Least Favourite Tracks: “A Fissure Exhales”

Unreal Unearth by Hozier:

For a while Hozier was one of those artists I’d heard of and wanted to listen to more, but all I really knew of his music was “Take Me to Church”. But recently, I decided to check out his first two albums, and … well, neither of them really clicked for me all that much. And I’ll admit it’s probably just that I don’t understand those albums, but I personally just didn’t find them all that interesting. But while his self-titled debut album isn’t fully my thing, I at least got more out of it than Wasteland, Baby!, his sophomore album which was released in 2019—and again, there seems to be a lot to it, but considering that I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, a lot of it just didn’t really make sense to me … but musically, I didn’t really find either album all that compelling to me personally outside of some moments here and there. And I’m not saying this to be mean or anything, it’s just not really my cup of tea.

So, is this the Hozier album that fully clicked for me? Well, I wasn’t expecting this, but … yeah, it mostly did click for me! And I’m surprised how much I ended up liking this!

Now, before I talk more about the album, I’m just going to say this: like with Hozier’s first two albums, I don’t fully understand it. I read the lyrics, and I did some research, but I didn’t look into it that much … I mean, I’m about to start college in less than two weeks, and as of right now I’m working pretty close to full-time, and there are also a bunch of other albums I want to review soon, and for some of those reviews I want to listen through the artist’s other albums like I did for this review.

But still, I found quite a bit that I like in the lyrics—I like the lyrics of “Damage Gets Done”, which seems to be about not worrying too much about the consequences of our actions … obviously we should be careful, but there’s a difference between being careful and overworrying. I also like a lot of the potential double-meanings throughout this album, like in “To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuaraithe)” and “Butchered Tongue”, the latter of which is my favourite song on the album!

I also really like a lot of the vocal melodies, like in the choruses of songs like “Eat Your Young”, “Who We Are”, and “Abstract (Psychopomp)”. And this is probably the most I’ve liked the production on a Hozier album, too—not just that, but if I haven’t made it clear enough already, this is easily the most I’ve liked a Hozier album overall!

I’m also really impressed by the instrumentals here—for example, I love the dramatic instrumental track “Son of Nyx”, and the closing track also has a great build to it!

Now, I will say, as much as I like Hozier’s vocals, the reverb doesn’t always work for me with this kind of indie rock sound, and I don’t think it’s a super consistent album—while there isn’t a bad song here in my opinion, there are a few that I don’t get much out of at all.

But overall … yeah, I’m surprised how much I like this! This is some really hard-hitting indie rock with a lot of really fascinating lyrics, great vocals, and the second half of this album absolutely rules! And I still mostly like the first half even though I don’t love it as much as the second half.

So, as a whole album … well, if I’m looking at it ‘objectively’, I can’t say whether or not it’s a great album, because quality is subjective … but I’ll say this: I highly, highly recommend listening to this album.

Also, when it comes to a rating … I’m going to give it an extremely strong 7.5/10! I don’t think I’d quite call it great—based on my personal taste, that is—but it’s very, very close!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Damage Gets Done”, “Who We Are”, “Son of Nyx”, “All Things End”, “Butchered Tongue”, “Unknown / Nth”, “First Light”
Least Favourite Tracks: “I, Carrion (Icarian)”

STRUGGLER by Genesis Owusu:

This is album #2 from Genesis Owusu, an artist whose music is pretty much a blend of post-punk, hip hop, pop, and funk—and a lot more! It comes almost two-and-a-half years after his critically acclaimed debut Smiling with No Teeth from 2021, an album with great production, a lot of great grooves, and fascinating lyrics full of double-meanings with great storytelling!

And I ended up really liking this album as well! I wouldn’t say I find the lyrics as interesting as on Smiling with No Teeth, but I still really like them for the most part, and there’s once again an interesting story going on. I also think the production is pretty punchy and works really well!

Once again, there are a lot of great hooks here, like in “Leaving The Light” and “The Old Man”, the latter of which has some really great synths!

So, overall … yeah, this is really solid! 7/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Leaving The Light”, “The Old Man”, “Tied Up!”, “That’s Life (A Swamp)”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Freak Boy”

Orbweaving by Midwife & Vyva Melinkolya:

This collaboration album came out in May of this year, and it’s my first time listening to an album by either of these artists.

And it’s a bit of a strange listen … it’s a very mellow album with only five tracks, three of which are under five minutes, one which is a little under eight minutes, and the closing track which is the one instrumental track here, and that song is over twelve minutes!

And I can’t tell if this works better as a whole or in pieces … but what I do know is that, while I did mostly end up liking this, it’s not fully clicking with me, and I’m not entirely sure why. I don’t want to say this album is boring, because I don’t think it is … but at the same time, there are points where I find it boring, and I should also talk about my kind of strange feelings on the song, “Hounds of Heaven”—because it feels strange for me to be saying this considering the style of music this is, but I really like the hook of this song, although the rest of the song is kind of underwhelming.

Overall, though, it is a pretty enjoyable listen, and I think the closing track works well in the context of the album, even though I can’t really describe why, as I have no idea why if I’m being totally honest. So, for me, it’s a 7/10. If this isn’t your thing I totally get it—and it’s not even totally my thing—but I still mostly like this.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Miss America”, “NMP”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Plague X”

18579151419 by 19 4 3 12 6:

What is it with me recently reviewing albums by artists with only a bunch of numbers as a stage name? Not long ago I reviewed an album by 7038634357, and now I’m reviewing this.

Anyway, this is an album from an artist you’ve probably never heard of, and I’m not even sure who this artist is, either, or whether or not this is a solo artist.

This is the third album 19 4 3 12 6 has released this year (although it’s the only one of the three that I’ve listened to). I randomly came across this when looking online for new music, and after giving it multiple listens … well, it’s some mellow, ambient music that’s instrumental, and while it’s not really my thing personally, it’s an interesting listen with some subtle details that I really like—I like the staticky sound on the last track that adds a lot without overpowering the mix, and I like some of the eerie sounds in “7291sud63” even though the song drags on longer than I would have liked.

Speaking of which, even though the album is only about a half hour, it can feel like it drags on a little longer than I would like, without totally keeping me interested throughout the whole album. But still, if you’re really into this sound you might be really impressed by it!

So, overall, I’d recommend you hear it—not only because it’s good to support smaller artists, but also because it’s an interesting album. But that being said, it’s not for me, so I’m personally going to give this a 5.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “1484eeg29”
Least Favourite Tracks: “7291sud63”